It’s Mental Health Awareness Week, and here in Cheltenham, one local Martial Arts club is proving that stepping into the gym can be just as powerful for the mind as it is for the body. Matt Rudman is a local Blackbelt MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) instructor who believes that “motion leads to better emotion”.
Rudman explained that MMA is often misjudged as an aggressive sport, but it can be a good way to release pent-up aggression.
“When someone is being aggressive, we learn to control that and to work with it. I think when you have a big blast out, whether it be for fitness, or if you’re just coming in for martial arts, then you find that that stress you may have been carrying for the day sort of shakes off a lot.
“We find that adults, if they’ve had a stressful day today, come out of class feeling so much better”.
Martial Arts Cheltenham also has lessons in Meditation and mindfulness. Rudman believes that this is crucial in helping build confidence and mental well-being.
“There’s a lot of philosophy around martial arts. So once our head becomes a bit more resilient, and even just from the extent of moving, emotion leads to emotion.
“The instructor will know if you’re having a bad day, so we will always do our best to lift you up. MMA gets endorphins going, so it does have a massive knock-on effect, even for some of the drills that we may be doing in class, everything releases endorphins.
“As we build up and we feel more confident in ourselves, our self-esteem lifts up. So it has a massive, massive impact. It really leads to improving mental health”.
Rudman urges people who struggle with Mental Health to give MMA a go as it could have such a major impact on them.
“I’ve already said that motion leads to emotion, so it just releases a lot of health endorphins, and we are addicts of dopamine. We want that dopamine hit so we can get that from a successful training session and just feeling good afterwards, and not just from the training.
“You’re making new friendships and connections and you’re around like-minded people. It makes a big difference.
“You don’t need to be fit or confident, but I can guarantee that you will feel so much better after a few sessions and if not you can walk out the door and you’re not tied down to come back.
“So what have you got to lose?”
If you would like to get involved, visit the link here – https://martialartscheltenham.co.uk/
